barc(enh)lona

leaving barcelona tomorrow and i don´t know if I´m just exhausted from so much sightseeing or limited sleep but i will not miss it. at all.

not sure what all the fuss is about here. the sights are pretty good but it´s very spread out and everything is a pain in the ass. it took me four and a half hours to get dinner last night. seriously. and we took a taxi to the restaurant to 'save´ time. think about that - four and a half hours. 60 minutes to get to a restaurant, hour of waiting, hour and half for dinner, and a half hour walk home. the taxi ride was only about 15 minutes but we spent the next 45 minutes walking around the old quarter trying to find it. believe me when i tell you that barca is not an easy city to get around in if you don´t know where you´re going. street signs? illegible, if you can find them. street layout? not too bad in the newer parts but utterly impossible in the old quarter. never have i wanted an iphone or gps device more than last night.

my friend sonia said that she did one bike tour here and spent the rest of the time on the beach. i think that makes a lot of sense, having seen the city.

the sights are very good (sagrada familia, and the art) but since the city is so big it´s very spread out. be prepared to do a LOT of walking. i should have done more walking practice before i came here. i´m in decent gym shape but not in practical walking shape and it´s been tough on me to drag my ass around for hours every day. They have a tube system and although it´s easier to get around, it´s not any faster. so if you want to get somewhere in a reasonable time you´re better off on foot for most of it.

i am sure there is some cool stuff here but i haven´t been able to find it. and it´s not for lack of looking, since i´ve been walking all over the city. the cathedrals and buildings are great when you finally get there. the food is overrated, but the beaches are nice.

highlight of beach time yesterday was the completely naked man walking around. not only did not have any clothes on, he didn´t have any clothes at hand, so he was just strolling, sitting, rinsing, showering, and lounging in the nude. barca is euro in that tops are optional (i´d say about half the women go topless when sunbathing), but naked guy? he was the only one. he was in no hurry to go find some pants though. he walked through all the beach traffic, got in the water, went and had a lie-down on the chaise lounge, cruised to the showers on the main walkway for a rinse off, and came back for another lie down / sit-with-head-in-hands. sometimes when you´re tasting it on a barca beach completely naked you just have to take a few minutes and refocus.  note that this this all took about 2 hours, but at no point did the lounge-rental guy ever try and charge him for the lounge rental. zach and i agreed this was sound policy, because if he has money, where is he keeping it?

internet time just about up. hope you are well wherever you are.
next update from Sevilla or thereabouts.
thanks for reading.
-c-